


Just One Wall Between Us

by Lyntheena



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: BoyxBoy, But in the end, Coffee, Cuddling, DDR, Fleetwood Mac, Flowers, Fluff, Frg, GDR, Gay, Germany, History, Kissing, M/M, Music, Rebellion, Sex, Smut, T!H, The Chain, Yas, b!h, b!l, fleetwood mac maybe, just so you know, larry is real, larrystylinson, rebel, t!l, they kinda share that really, vinyl, whothefuckmademedothat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-04-26 12:38:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14402313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyntheena/pseuds/Lyntheena
Summary: East Berlin, 1973Harry is at first not very excited when he gets the permission to visit the Eastern part of Berlin for the first time.As a citizen of Western Germany, he is now allowed to travel to the GDR but only for 45 days in one year.45 days, he thinks. That's enough.What is he gonna do in East Berlin anyway?But then he meets Louis, a rebel who wishes for nothing but freedom. They have the time of their lives and suddenly 45 days could never be enough.But maybe just enough to make a plan.Against the system.For love and freedom.AU in which Harry and Louis fall in love but can't be together due to the fact that Harry is a 'Wessi' and Louis an 'Ossi'. Means that the Wall is separating the young lovers. I will use some German terms and names to make it more authentic.That is why Harry is called "Harry Straube" and Louis' name is "Louis Thomalla".





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who clicked on this story. It’s my first one here and it means a lot to me.  
> First things first: 
> 
> 1) This is a work of fiction. The characters are fictional based on real-life persons. This story does not reflect on the real lives of these persons. The story and the characters belong to me.
> 
> 2) This story takes place in the GDR, the FRG, and parts of France. I am well educated on the historical situations of the GDR as my parents were both born and raised there. Some aspects might seem exaggerated but I got all the information about life in the GDR from my parents and believe me, it really was extreme and very controlled. I am in no way trying to show or spread political views with this work. I was born in united Germany. I do not want to influence or manipulate the political views of the readers. As I said, this is a work of fiction.
> 
> 3) Please enjoy this story, it means a lot to me and I hope it will mean at least something to you too. :) If you like you can share it with your friends and followers. And now: Have fun!

Prologue

A warm breeze carried the salty scent of the sea through the air and right to the blonde woman that was watering her colourful flowers on the modern white balcony. The wind was playing with her hair and she had given up to pull the strands out of her face.  
Moments like these and the sun shining down on her was all that she needed. 

‘Mum?’

And her family of course. 

The voice behind the woman made her put down the watering can and turn around to face her daughter.

‘Yes, love?’ 

She smiled widely. How big her little girl had grown over the years, it was unbelievable. Floriane walked over to her mother:

‘I was wondering, mum.’

‘Wondering what?’

Floriane sat down on the Hollywood swing:

‘You see, I was in the attic and I was initially searching for this cute little blanket I used to have when I was a baby, do you remember?’

‘I do remember. But that is not what you came to tell me. right?’

‘No. I said initially. Well, what I found instead was way more interesting anyway.’

‘I’m curious, go ahead, I haven’t been in the attic for months.’

‘Well then come with me, I will show you!’

With that Floriane took her mother by the hand and pulled her with her into the house. There they both sat down at the kitchen table and the girl opened an old photo album covered in leather.

‘What is this?’

‘Open it!’, Floriane said excitedly and her grin was wider than her face. She was very proud that she had found something her mother didn’t know even though she has been living in this house since her childhood.

So the mother opened the album and the smell of old memories flooded the room. Polaroid pictures in soft colours were in there.

"Summer, 1973" was written on the first page in a very neat and beautiful handwriting.  
And in another one which was way more spidery, someone had added  
"better known as ‘the best summer ever’  
thank you for everything, darling  
yours forever L"

‘Don’t you want to tell me what that is and why I’ve never seen it before?’, Floriane asked.

Her mum was smiling through the tears that were already rolling down her cheeks.

‘I guess… This, my dear, is how your grandfathers met.’


	2. 1 The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and his family visit his mother's sister and her husband and daughter again, after 13 years that they had been separated by the wall. Please note that I "germanised" their names as the story is set in Germany. Styles became Straube, Gemma became Gudrun. The names of the other characters are typical for this time period and therefore quite funny and not necessarily pretty. Have fun!  
> All the love, M

‘Did you get everything, darling?, Mrs Straube asked while applying her pink lipstick in the mirror.

‘I sure did.’, Mr Straube replied from the kitchen and took a sip of his coffee.  
‘At least everything we will need today.’

Mrs Straube walked over to him and sighed, her husband chuckled.

‘Please be serious.’

She fixed her hair and his bow tie, awful choice if you would have asked Harry, but nobody ever asked him, so he did not say anything and drank his cacao silently as he leaned against the kitchen cabinet.  
Weird enough his parents always had to leave a comment on his choice of clothes, whether it were his bell bottoms his jeans jacket or his colourful t-shirts. 

He still wore them and his hairstyle with pride, the Seventies Style was the best ever, he loved to combine slip-overs and button downs, especially when both had daring patterns. It gave him this feeling of freedom, a little bit rebellious against the older generation.

His mum and dad would only shake their heads from time to time, say that ‘this would not have happened’ when they were his age and in the end let him where what he wanted.

For today he had chosen ‘his special outfit’:   
A tight pink button down with white hearts, a pale green and beige slip-over with rhombic decorations, his light blue jeans, as wide as possible around the ankles of course, and matching with his beloved denim jacket.  
Style was very important to Harry, he might as well got that from his older sister Gudrun.

She was now studying economics at the university, Harry really missed her and the late night talks they used to have. She had always been the only one he could talk to about literally anything. Romantic relationships even, the two were the definition of love between siblings and now that she lived almost an hour away, it was hard for both of them.

Contrary to Harry though, Gudrun had many friends with whom she drunk, smoked, partied and sometimes even studied.   
Harry did not have a single friend. Not a real one. 

His classmates were nice to him when they were together but Harry knew that they talked about him behind his back. By now he had learned not to give a damn about it but only some years ago would cry himself to sleep every night because of what they had called him in school.  
The only friend Harry ever had was Carmen, she even had been his girlfriend, but only for two months. Then she had started going out without Harry and on her way she had found Peter.

Peter had been more muscular and handy then Harry and therefore obviously better boyfriend material.  
Sure, Harry was not as fit as Peter, but he had once built a little bird house in his second grade, so he must have been at least a little bit good with his hands.

And Harry liked to sew. When he was younger he did it just with his hands and a needle and thread but for his 15th birthday he had gotten a real sewing machine.   
The clothes he created for himself and sometimes also for Gudrun were really good even, for example the pink shirt he was wearing today was his own work and he was very proud of it.

His mum and dad were okay with it, they were happy that their son was at least somehow productive and not lazy, rebellious or even a junkie.   
As long as their son went to his weekly tennis and driving lessons, brought good grades home from school and was nice to the neighbours, they did not care. Or at least they tried not to. 

Overprotective parents were so out.

Harry’s and Gudrun’s mum and dad wanted to give their children the best possible future. They had sworn themselves that they would never hold their children back in their decisions and that they would always support their daughter and son. You could say the two adolescents were blessed, not all students in Harry’s class had such modern and accepting parents.

But even his parents had their tics and Mrs Straube’s tic was over-punctuality and over-thinking.  
How very stereotypical, Harry thought when his mum checked the fruit basket for the one hundredth and thirty seventh time, just in case of course.

‘Maybe we should pack more soap; every time I sent this one with the post she thanked extra for it, think they really love it. Two more should do.’

And two more Lux soaps found their way into the already heavily overloaded basket.

‘Good idea, very thoughtful and observing, they will love it! But now you really got enough, don’t you think?’, Mr Straube asked and patted his wife’s back gently.

‘Yes, maybe you’re right, darling. I was just wondering, you know? Just in case...’, and her hands wandered to another mango this time.

‘Anne.’, Mr Straube said smiling and shook his head.

She sighed and put the mango away.

‘I know, it is enough. They will survive without it. Probably we should just leave now.’

‘Exactly. I’ve got the keys. Harry, will you come?’, Mr Straube asked and put his cup of coffee aside.

Harry stood up from the kitchen chair and fixed his hair in the mirror one last time.

‘We can go.’, he said.

= 0 =

 

Uncomfortable silence filled the car.   
They were all doing their own thing: Harry sketched in his notebook, his dad was driving the brand new Audi 80 and Harry’s mum was just looking out the window.

‘I just can’t wait to see my sister again!’, Mrs Straube suddenly cried.  
‘Inge and I have not seen each other for over thirteen years now. Can you believe it?’

Yes. Harry could believe it. It just wasn’t as emotional for him as for his mother.

Mr Straube tried to comfort his wife:  
‘I know, darling. I know.’

With one hand he gently caressed her cheek (which was already flooded with tears) the other hand still resting on the stirring wheel.

‘Harry was only six years old back then.’, Mrs Straube started again.  
‘Kurt, I want to see their faces, when they see him again; the bright young man he is by now.’

Harry rolled his eyes, fortunately his parents could not see him as he was sitting in the back seat. They were right though, 13 years had passed and many things had changed, but not the antipathy Harry had for his aunt and uncle.  
He did not even like them back then, why would he like them now?

“Yes, they will be very surprised. But we will be just as gob-smacked when we see Angela again. She must be a real lady by now!”

Yeah, great.

“Oh, right! 20 going 21 on the 12th June! Oh but that is already next week! Do you think we could visit her on her birthday?

Oh God, please don’t.

“I don’t know but we will find out, love.”

Please dear Lord, Harry prayed, let them have other plans on that day!

To be fair, Harry was not really a bad or mean child that hated its family. He just did not know what to do with this ‘special day’. Hopefully he would be allowed to go outside and check out East Berlin on his own.

He was not interested in the life of his Ossi aunt and uncle. He was interested in the city, the sights, the youth.

Ossis were boring anyway, they would just sit there in their lifeless living room, telling old stories, sharing memories, eating nasty cake and playing lame board games.   
He knew his aunt barely but he was sure, that was something she would do.

Harry sighed, he was already so done with everything. His mum had really packed this huge fruit basket for her sister and her family and he was sitting next to it, holding the basket (with its huge red bow on it) so the bananas, kiwis and pineapples would not fall out of it.

He could not believe that they really did not have exotic fruits in the GDR.  
How do they live?, he wondered and shook his head in disbelief.

Then suddenly the car stopped. 

Harry looked outside the window, they had reached the border.

“Good afternoon, papers please.”

They reached the papers. The officer checked them briefly, handed them back and nodded.

“Have a nice day.”

They did it. They were in East Berlin. That easy.

= 0 =

The family drove around in the streets of East Berlin for a while now.  
And then they stopped. 

Mühlen Street. So that was it. Number 72. 

A pale grey building was stretching into the bright blue sky, it was no different then the other houses next to it. Just as plain and boring.

They walked towards the door. All silent. There was no need to say a word, it felt like a holy procedure, some kind of a sacral act. The name sign next the massive beige door, where the paint was already coming off, looked just as dirty and dead as everything else here.

Mrs Straube was shivering, her eyes glistened with tears of joy and excitement when she rang the bell.

Silence.

“Should I ring again?”

She did.

Silence.

Then finally:

“OH MY GOODNESS! RENATE!”

The voice of Harry’s aunt screamed through the inter-phone system. A cracking noise and a high pitched scream later and the door opened, voices filled the staircase, mingled with barking of a dog.

“Thank god!”, Harry whispered to himself. Pets were good. He would have at least someone who’s presence was enjoyable.

“Renate! Kurt!”, Aunt Inge, Uncle Christhard and Angela stood in the door frame of their flat. Immediately the two sisters who had been parted for over a decade fell into each others arms and cried.

And nobody moved or said a word. Again, there was this comfortable silence. 

Harry knew that this day in his family’s life was monumental; and no matter how hard Harry tried not to care (because there was no reason to, as they had already said: he had been way too young back then) he could not hold back his tears.

Just because it did not directly affect him did not mean he did not understand the importance of this moment. 

These two women had lived together their whole childhood, shared thousands of happy and sad memories. Late night talks, playground games and arguments. All these emotions they had experienced together flooded them right now in this warm and tight hug.

All the years the political systems, the wall had stolen from them could never be relived. Christhard was Harry’s godfather but he never got the chance to fulfil his duties as one. 

How much he would have loved to see his godchild grow up. The first time on the bicycle, the first day in school, fatherly advice in Harry’s puberty, things you do not want to tell your parents. All chances gone.

“Harry, my dear.”, Uncle Christhard broke the silence and hugged his nephew, not as tight as the sisters did, but it was a beginning. 

And with that everyone began to hug and cuddle and kiss one another. And the cold silence became warm laughter and love that filled the little apartment which the two families now had entered.

“Maybe we could show you a little bit around? I know it’s not much but it’s enough. At least we have a flat.”, Aunt Inge shrugged and went towards a door to the left. Through its glass yellow sunlight lightened up the little hallway.

“The kitchen, as small as it was back then but I mean, we are only three, right? We can be thankful.”

It really was small. The kitchen of the Straube’s was doubled in size if not bigger. But Aunt Inge was right, actually you did not need more when only father, mother and child lived together.  
“Oh and if anyone needs to use the loo, there it is.”, she pointed her finger at the door on the other side of the hallway.

Angela and Harry’s father had already went into the living room, so the others just followed them. The room was quite dark, maroon wallpaper covered the walls, the couch had the same colour. Just the pillowcases and the little collection cups brought a little spark of colour into the room.

“Please sit down, we prepared a little something for you. I baked some cake and cookies.”, smiling widely Aunt Inge invited them to sit with them. 

Lifeless living room? Check.  
Nasty cake? Check.

Well, Harry did not know yet how the cake would taste, but it looked nasty.

If they now grab a photo album and start with ‘Oh dear, I’ve got some photos, that I have to show you!’ Harry could make a cross behind the ‘Sharing memories’ and ‘Telling old stories’ too.

“Oh dear, I’ve got some photos, that I have to show you!”

No way.

Sharing memories? Check.  
Telling old stories? Check.

A small leather bound book was passed around while they sat at the table and ate their cake which, to Harry’s surprise was actually quite delicious.  
All in all, it was better than he thought.   
He liked the photos, liked photography in general. He never left the house without his Polaroid camera.

There were photographs of Inge and Christhard with little Angela on her birthdays, at the zoo, the park or at lakes. Now that Harry saw the evolution of Angela on these photos, her slowly started to realise how much his family had been missing.

“Oh dear, Angela! Is that your boyfriend?”, Mrs Straube pointed at a photo of her niece with a very tall and lanky man.

It suddenly went silent.

“Was my boyfriend. He was.”, Angela said calmly and her face told a thousand stories. 

Silence.

Aunt Inge raised her voice to focus on Harry instead:

“What about you, Harry? As such an attractive young man the girls must be following you in hordes!”

She laughed. No one else did. It was a forced laugh and Harry simply shook his head.

“No, they do not. My first and only girlfriend followed someone else rather than me.”

Simple, said it all, Harry thought and hoped the topic would not come up again. But he really did not know his aunt.

“How so? What a slut must this girl have been! Betrays my innocent nephew!”, she was outraged and could not imagine how anyone could hurt Harry.

“Please, Auntie, do not talk about her like this. She was and is not a slut. You do not know her like I did. Not being interested in your partner any more is a valid reason to end a relationship. She found someone else and is happy now and therefore I am happy.”

Silence again.

“Well if you think so.”, was all Harry’s aunt said as if she agreed with him but in her tone and face you could hear and see that she could not understand Harry and did not even try.  
“I didn’t even know you had a dog!”, Mrs Straube suddenly changed the topic (not very smoothly but effective) while looking at a picture of her sister with a little black Schnauzer.

“Oh really? I thought I told you in our letters. This one was Coco”, Uncle Christhard pointed at the photograph and smiled.

“Sadly she died four years ago.”, Aunt Inge added softly.

“But we some months later we adopted Ivan!”, Angela explained and as the dog heard its name, Ivan ran into the room and barked. He was a black Schnauzer too but bigger and he looked like he wanted something from his humans.

“Good boy, always comes when he gets called.”, Uncle Christhard laughed and petted the dog’s head.

Angela sat up straight and cleared her throat: 

“He really is a good boy, think he deserves to get out for some minutes or more. Maybe Harry and I could take him for a walk? What do you think, Harry?”

Harry was very surprised yet thankful for this spontaneous idea.

“Eh, yeah, sure. I would love to.”, he already wanted to stand up but stopped in his motion.  
“If we are allowed to, of course?”

Uncle Christhard just shrugged: 

“Sure, do what you want. As cousins you obviously need some time to catch up, too. Maybe you could show him the area a bit, Angela?”

“Right, what great idea. Will do. See ya in a bit!”

And with that she pulled Harry along with her and Ivan, who’s lead she had already got and marched towards the door.

“Bye!”  
The door shut behind them very loudly.

Silence.

“Oh thank god!”, she exclaimed suddenly and already fiddled in her jackets pocket just to pull out some cigarettes and a lighter.

“Want one too?”, she asked, her cigarette already between the teeth.

Harry shook his head. “I don’t smoke.”

Her eyes laid on him sceptically, eyebrows knitted: 

“Aye, but ya not gonna tell me parents, right? They don’t know I smoke.”

Harry shook his head again.

“Thought you might wanted to get out of there as well. I hate these boyfriend-girlfriend-questions. So unnecessary, really.”

She lit her cigarette and her features immediately relaxed as she took the first drag.

“Thank you, I really needed some space.”, Harry admitted.

“Aye, thought so, and Ivan really needs some fresh air.”

She went downstairs but already stopped at the next door.

“Did you forget something? Do we need to go upstairs again?”, Harry asked and raised an eyebrow.

Angela laughed: “Oh no, I just want to ring Uwe. He’s my neighbour and best friend. You don’t mind, do you? It’s just more fun with him.”

Harry shook his head. He did not mind.

“It’s fine. I would actually really like to have some people my age around me right now. Nothing against our parents but...”, he searched for the right words.

“But it’s just different.”, Angela helped him out and rang. “I know.”

Silence. Then a mumbled voice from behind the door:

“Just one minute!”

In the end 5 minutes passed in which the two just stood in front of the door, waiting for Uwe to come out. They heard rumbling and swearing until finally the door swung open to reveal an extraordinarily tall, lanky man filling out the whole door frame.

Behind him stood an extraordinarily tiny girl, fumbling with the buttons of her blue blouse. Oh.

Angela did not surprised at all:

“Oh great! Hey, Jutta! How are you?”

Jutta smiled and fixed her hair:

“I’m good, very good actually...”, she smirked and looked up to Uwe.

Too much information.

They kissed.

“Aww, you two are so cute!”, Angela sighed.

Well, thanks for ignoring me!, Harry thought and started to feel uncomfortable and left out.

“Who’s the curly one?”, Uwe said and nodded towards Harry.

Angela finally seemed to remember that she did not come alone.

“Oh right, that is my Wessi cousin. He’s called Harry.”

No.

Just no. 

Harry hated being referred to as a ‘Wessi’.   
That always sounded so full of prejudices.   
Of course he also used the term ‘Ossi’ from time to time, but that was something different!  
Ossis really lived up to the clichés. At least his aunt and uncle did.

These were the facts: Ossis were lazy: if they were not, then why do they have such a bad economy system? They just did not want to work.

But then again, Harry wanted to be nice. So he did not comment on the term.

“Hey, nice to meet you two.”, Harry shook hands with Jutta, then with Uwe. That was how you did it, right? Woman first, then the man?

Harry really did not want to make a bad first impression but after Uwe’s and Jutta’s kinda entrance Harry had figured that they probably did not care about first impressions at all and Harry liked that.

Jutta’s bra strap was showing and she just didn’t care, Mrs Straube would have been shocked.

Harry smiled at this thought. 

“So what’s up? You wanna go out?”, Uwe asked and looked at Ivan who was panting and waggling with his tail.

The Schnauzer surely showed that he did not want to wait any longer.

“Yes, the family gathering was boring and kinda awkward. We three needed a little break. You want to come with us?”, Angela explained.

Uwe looked at Jutta and Jutta at him. It was this ‘as-a-couple-we-make-decisions-together’ kinda look. They nodded and smiled. How very lovely, Harry thought. God how much he wished he was in a relationship.  
In a functioning one.

“Of course we come with you.”, Jutta eventually said. “But we need to stay hydrated! Wait a second!”

She went inside the flat again and came back with six bottles of beer.

“Great idea, but why six bottles?”; Angela laughed.

Jutta shrugged: 

“Well, if we go out we can not go without Jens and Louis. Let’s go to them first.”

= 0 =


	3. The Wall-Breakers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I will show you some of the differences between East and West. Just some and more will follow as the story goes on. I will try to update asap, actually I wanted to make this chapter one piece but I chose to divide it into 2 parts so you do not have to wait so long. :) Hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Chapter 2

They closed the beige main door behind them and followed Ivan who jumped around, obviously excited to finally go out again. Angela had brought the lead along but only carried it around, Ivan was well raised and would never run away or bite someone anyway, the cousin explained.

“Don’t worry if he goes his own way, he knows where we’re going and is used to this round.”, Uwe added as he saw Harry’s slightly concerned face.

Then he turned to his girlfriend again. Harry watched them for some time, they were really cute together. There are these over-dramatically sweet and romantic couples that always snog their faces of in public and just ignore the rest of the world, everyone knows them. And everyone hates them.

So did Harry and he was more than happy that Jutta and Uwe did not belong this category. They just worked together very well, it seemed.

When Jutta was deep in a conversation with Angela and did not see the cars coming towards her, Uwe would stop her so she did not build an accident.  
When Uwe had troubles finding words (and he had those very often), she would always know the best fitting phrase or word or at least help him paraphrase what he meant.   
When she could not see anything because strands of her red long hair were in her face, he would pull them away or just guide her.

They were cute. Harry had to admit it. Angela was cute combined with Jutta and Uwe.

But the three already knew each other so good and they always had topics or people to talk about and Harry didn’t.   
He did not know about Karin who was only 15 yet already pregnant from Martin who was already 23, whose brother had been Karin's boyfriend before but actually that did not matter because it was a well known fact that Martin’s brother ‘changed his girlfriends as often as his underwear’.

He did not know about the latest news in politics (a topic the three seemed to like a lot), yet they always lowered their voices before they exchanged jokes and gossip about some politicians and looked around slightly panicked. Harry did not really know why they did that but he also couldn’t care less.

When he had stepped out of his aunt’s and uncle’s flat he thought his cousin and he would just walk and talk alone. Not with four other people.

Actually, by now it were only two of her friends as they had not picked up this Jens and Louis yet. 

“Do you think Louis is at Jens’ place?”, Uwe asked.

“I don’t know, could be possible. They hang very often these days, I think they both like this rock band. What was its name again?”, Jutta asked and put her hair in a ponytail to stop it from getting in her face.

Angela blinked and protected her eyes from the blinding sunlight: “Fleetwood Mac. These Britons and Americans. The two always listen to them together, secretly obviously. Louis’ nan almost caught them the last time that’s why they know always go to Jens instead.”

Uwe laughed: “As always Angela is perfectly informed about everything. How do you know all that stuff? Are you a snitch or what?”

Immediately the conversation stopped, their faces froze.

“Uwe, don’t even say or think that! I would never!”, Angela was suddenly very angered, eyebrows knitted.  
“Just because I listen when my friends tell me something does not mean I work for the Stasi!”

She hissed as she said that and then again looked around.

Harry was confused but did not ask any questions. Nobody paid attention to his existence anyway.

“Okay, okay! I was just kidding, we know you would never.”, Uwe put an arm around Angela and waited for her answer, but there was none.  
“I apologised, now it is your turn to accept it.”  
Uwe smiled, he really seemed sorry and wanted peace again.

Angela sighed and looked him in the eye: “I accept it, you’re happy now?”

Rolling her eyes she put his arm away and mumbled: “It’s just that you know exactly that it could be true, you see? Everyone here could be Stasi and you would never know.”

Uncomfortable silence settled between the friends and also Harry; well Harry had not even participated in the conversation before this, so not much changed for him, only that now he was even more confused.

Why was Angela suddenly so upset? And what was this Stasi exactly?  
He did not ask, as he did not want to enrage his cousin again and maybe also because he was afraid he could embarrass himself.

It might have sound stupid but Harry could not deal with embarrassment and not being liked by others. He would have loved to be one of those people who just did not care about what others said about them, but he just wasn’t. When somebody did not like him, he needed to know why.

He was always trying to be the best version of himself that he could possibly ever be, but for some that was not enough.

And Harry felt like he was not enough right now, the others ignored him and he could not understand why.  
Was it because he was a Wessi?  
Did they have prejudices?  
Did they hate him?  
Had he done something wrong or somehow offensive?  
Or maybe he should just help himself and talk with them. He knew Fleetwood Mac as well, he loved them. Maybe he could talk about that.  
But on the other hand, he did not want to be the first to break the silence, that was always so awkward.  
Thankfully Jutta did that for him out of a sudden:  
"Man, the weather is great today isn't it?"  
The weather, really?

Not the best one but a start. And easy to join into.  
Now or never, Harry thought and raised his voice:  
"Yeah, right? I hope it will stay like this for a while now."  
He did it.  
"Well, Jutta, that's why we're going to the park,", Angela said and laughed again.  
And she ignored Harry. They had not even turned around.  
Had he been too quiet, too soft-spoken?  
What else was he supposed to do? He had tried his best.  
So Harry did not try it again and remained silent till the little group reached a white painted house with a maroon roof and even a little garden around it. It was rather small for what Harry thought but it was nice. Cute even in some way. A little balcony was almost drowning in flowers of all colours. Midnight blue and lemon yellow, bright red and cardinal purple.

It made the house look friendlier than most of the houses around it. Something that actually looked like a happy life, something that Harry had not seen that often in East Berlin so far.

Jutta opened the tiny garden gate and marched towards the dark brown front door. She did not wait for the others and already rang the bell.

Uwe, Angela and Harry followed her silently and joined Jutta who was now chewing a gum while she waited. They gladly did not stand their for too long, they heard some footsteps and then the door was opened by a boy of Harry’s age and Harry’s hight. His blonde hair was long and reached his shoulders, their waves were shining in the afternoon sun like gold.

“Oh, it’s you. What’s up? Want to come in?”, the boy said and smiled.

He had a very pretty smile, Harry thought. Very pretty face in general. Little wrinkles appeared around his almond brown eyes as he smiled.

“Louis is here anyway.”, he added, the smile never left his face.

“What did you say about me?”, a loud, high voice came out of the house.

They all laughed as they heard their friend. Jutta explained:

“We actually wanted to pick you up, we already figured Louis would be at your place. Wanna go to the park?”

As he heard the word ‘park’ Ivan signalled with loud barking that he was still there too. 

“I guess this is a yes then.”, Jens laughed and looked over to Jutta. “You are sure that you don’t want anything to drink? We got Cola.”

Immediately everyone cheered and went inside. Harry just followed them even though he was unsure if the invitation was also directed at him.

But it seemed like it had been as Jens went into the kitchen on the left and came back with four cups:

“Louis and I already got ours.”, he explained and lead the way into the light living room. This one was so different compared to the one of Angela’s family, Harry thought.

Yellow curtains were shining in the sunlight that lightened up the room through the window, the walls were covered in white wallpapers that had little circles on them and even the furniture was light brown, not as heavy and dark as the flat of Harry’s aunt and uncle.

And there on the couch sat another boy staring at the TV. Harry had not even known that they had TVs in East Germany.  
But they had and the boy, who must have been Louis, was watching the sports channel. Boring, Harry did not like any sports apart from tennis.

As Angela, Jutta, Uwe and Harry entered the room and started talking to him he stood up and hugged all of them except for Harry. He stopped:

“Hey, who is this? Is this your new boyfriend, Angela?”, he asked mockingly and raised an eyebrow.

“Shut it.”, Angela hissed and sat down at the small couch. “He’s my cousin, Harold.”

Excuse me?, Harry could not believe his cousin did not even remember his name. It’s not that hard, is it?

“Harold then? Nice name!”

No.

“This… is not my name. My name is Harry.”, he tried to explain.

“Doesn’t matter. Harold or Harry isn’t that much of a difference. I would have given myself a nickname too!”, Louis laughed.

Harry sighed: “No, Harry is my real name.”

Louis was confused: “I thought Harold was your real name? Angela said so.”

“Oh, yeah… Sorry mate. I forgot.”, Angela had lightened up a new cigarette and mumbled the words as she had to take care that the cigarette would not fall out of her mouth while she searched for her lighter.

“Well, anyway!”, and suddenly he hugged Harry too. “Guess you are our friend now.”

That escalated quickly. 

From getting ignored to being included in the circle of friends was not what Harry would have expected but why not. Sure.

“Ehm… I… I don’t...”, Harry was kind of confused as Louis hugged him tight as if they had been friends for ages.

“Oh.”, Louis eventually let go off Harry and took a step back. “Sorry, I am just very...”

His cheeks blushed a little and he looked around in the room as if to find the word he was looking for in here.

“Clingy?”, Angela offered.

“Affectionate?”

“Cuddly?”

All of the friends laughed, even Louis himself though he was still blushing.

“It’s okay.”; Harry said, the hug was fine and he did not want Louis to feel bad about it. “It’s just kinda strange. I am totally new here, I’ve seen Angela for the first time in 13 years today and I got the feeling I don’t really belong here or to your group of friends, so...”

Suddenly the friends started talking all at once:

“Did we give you this feeling?”

“My goodness, I am so sorry!”

“We did not have a clue!”

“Your first day in East Berlin you say?”

“What do you want to do today? It’s all about your special day then!”

Everyone was talking to him and he was all mixed up.  
He was pushed down on the couch and Jens who came back from the kitchen gave him a glass of which looked like coke.

But it wasn’t. 

At least not real coke. Harry tried to hide his disgust but his face expressions gave it away anyway.

The others said there and watched him silently until Jens asked:

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like coke?”, he really looked worried.

“I do like coke, real coke. This is not real Coca Cola, is it? What is this?”; Harry asked quietly and furrowed his brows. 

Ohs and Ahs went through the group.

“I know what you mean!”, Uwe laughed, got up from the sofa and left the room.  
When he came back he had a glass bottle in his hand.

“This, my friend, is Vita Cola!” 

It looked kinda like the original Coca Cola design, but had a straight . The sticker was red as well yet the font was not the same and said Vita instead of Coca and but the dark brown liquid inside looked just like coke. 

“It is coke, just a little different as we don’t get Coca Cola in the East. SO we have our own coke.”, Uwe explained to Harry who still looked sceptical. He was not convinced.

“I guess it is okay, but our coke is better.”, he just mumbled and the others giggled.

“You say that because you grew up with Coca Cola, Vita is really good once you drink it more often. You’ll get used to it.” Jutta shrugged and nodded towards Harry’s glass. “Still wanna drink that?”

Harry did not want to come off as rude but he also did not want to drink the rest of this “coke”. 

“To be honest… No, not really. I’d prefer just water if you have that.”

Jens was already up again and back in the kitchen.  
“Give me the coke then!”, Louis smiled and Harry gave him his glass. At least it was not wasted then.

After Harry had finished his water and Louis Harry’s coke they got up from the couch.

“Ivan really needs a walk and can’t wait for the park any longer. I bet his beloved Dora is already there.”, Angela laughed.

Dora was a poodle lady the friends and Ivan met in the park every time they went there, Jutta explained. And Ivan liked this poodle a lot.

So they went outside again, through the lovely little front garden filled with flowers and bushes and walked around Berlin for 15 more minutes until they reached the centre of the park.

They called it Volkspark, as it was for the folk, obviously. And as much as Harry tried to find negative points about the Eastern system, this was actually very nice.

Here they really seemed to care about all the people of the nation not only the rich ones. But what did Harry know? Was that wholly so or just the image the government had created?

What Harry saw was controversial and confusing, some things did not fit into the picture frame he had made in his mind, some were exactly like the picture.

Poor looking houses, all the same colour. No workers that wanted to paint them. Fake coke because the Ossis refused to take anything from the West. A park for the folk but it was lifeless and bare.

What was this? Why did they live with this emptiness?

Harry had so many questions and he knew his new friends (it was still weird for him to call them his friends as he met them only minutes ago) had them.

They sat down on the grass and Jutta passed the beer bottles around:  
“Here, I think this will be as good as your west beer.”, she laughed and handed Harry his own bottle.

It did taste good, as good as beer could taste. If Harry was honest he never really liked beer before. There was no use to drink for him. He was a good child, never breaking the rules as there were almost none. 

His parents had already allowed him to drink when he was 15 years old, one year earlier than the legal age for drinking in Germany. But Harry was not interested in drinking anyway.

He rather did his homework, went to his tennis lessons, designed new clothes and took photos with his camera. This was how he kept special moments.

“What are you doing?”, Louis asked as he looked up to Harry who was standing again, camera in his hand.

“Making memories.”, he simply said and took the photo.

“Show us, show us!”, Jutta was excited and grabbed the Polaroid out of Harry’s hand. She waved it around in the air, shook it even because she thought that was how she could fasten up the process.

Then very slowly pastel colours filled in the little white frame. The green meadow, the bright blue of Jutta’s blouse, Louis’ orange t-shirt, the blonde of both Angela’s and also Jens’ hair, all the colours that Harry did not want to fade ever again.

He did not know how or why but he felt like these here could be his first real friends and this feeling was overwhelming.

“Thank you.”

“Thanks for what?”, Uwe asked and took a sip of his beer.

“Thank you for sharing your time with me. That can’t be taken for granted. Just… thank you all.”, Harry looked at his feet as he said that.

“Aww, sweetheart! Don’t tell me we are your first friends?”, Jutta asked softly with pity in her voice.

“Well, yes. Kinda...” He mumbled the words, talking about not having friends is more than awkward.

Jutta clapped her hands together loudly and raised her voice ceremonially:

“Listen lads! We will be the greatest team, the best friends Harry ever had and will ever have. Alright? Just look at him, this boy deserves the world and has no friends? What bullshit is that?”

She took her beer and raised it n the air: “At least I swear solemnly that I will be your friend, Harry. I might not know you at all but I can sense you have a heart of gold. Whenever you need a shoulder to cry onto, I will be here for you.” 

Uwe laughed: “Why don’t you never say such nice things to me? I’m getting jealous over here!”

The others joined the laughter.

“Oh stop it! I’m being serious here and you ruin it!”, Jutta cried over-dramatically.

Then suddenly Louis jumped up and also raised his bottle:

“I also solemnly swear to be your friend, Harold!”

“Harry. It’s Harry.”, said one mumbled yet he could not be annoyed as they were so nice to him.

“Well, then ‘Harry’. Doesn’t matter anyway. I swear to be there for you whenever you need me, my house is open for you!”

“You don’t even have a house.”, Angela muttered, she could not see the sense in this ritual like procedure.

“Again: doesn’t matter!”, Louis repeated himself. “My granny’s flat is open for you then. Ring my bell at 3 in the night: I will open for you.”

Jens crossed his arms: “Are you quite finished? That’s all very lovely but I think Harry would have believed you too if you had just told him normally. Others might think we are founding a cult over here when you’re raising your hands like that.”

Now Harry could laugh with the others. Even though Jens had been really annoyed it was just too funny.

“Well maybe we should do that.”, Angela mumbled and cracked a smile, the third cigarette in her mouth now.

“Do what?”, Jens asked and looked over to Angela who was blowing little circles of smoke in the air.

“Found a cult.” Her face was serious, her gaze directed in the distance.

Harry laughed: “What cult should that be? The ‘beer-drinker-cult’?”

The others giggled.

“Nah, man. Something cooler! The wall-breakers or something like this.”, she still did not look at the others.  
“As we are breaking walls down, you see? Walls of prejudices, walls between states. Like a metaphor.”

Comfortable silence settled for a minute in which the friends played with the idea of it. Wall-breakers. Harry liked the sound this word had.   
A little bit of rebellion and freedom.

“The wall-breakers it is, I’d say.”, Louis raised his bottle again, this time all the others joined in and said in unison:

“The wall-breakers!”

= 0 =


	4. The Park

The friends sat there in the sun, beers in hands, some were smoking, others just talking about literally everything that came to their minds. 

Gossiping, enlightening Harry about the situation in the East, exchanging clichés about both sides of the wall.

Angela had said that if they really wanted to break down walls they would need to break down the prejudices and stereotypes first.

“Come on! Be honest with us, what are you thinking about us?”, Jens smirked and lightened himself a cigarette too.

“I like y’all a lot. You are nice, well behaved if we do not count the alcohol and the cigarettes.”, Harry giggled, the beer had done its job.

He was not used to alcohol at all so it was very for the others to watch him slowly getting more open and talkative. He giggled and blushed a lot.

“That is very nice of you but I meant: What do you think about Ossis?”, Jens laughed and put his arm around Harry’s shoulders.

The others were quiet as church mice, they wanted to know what Wessis thought of them and Harry was very open right now.

“Oh, that! Well, you are said to be lazy and when I look around here it seems like it’s true!”, Harry giggled.

The others pretended to be shocked and Jutta sat up with her hands on her hips:

“Aye, that is not very nice! We work our darn arses off, it’s not our fault that nothing comes back. What makes you think, we are lazy?”

Harry shrugged: “The houses for example: why don’t your workers just paint them? It would look so much friendlier and new.”

He hiccuped.

The others exchanged sarcastic looks and Uwe answered:

“You know, Harry, not everyone is as rich as you Wessis. We would love to refresh the houses but we do not even have paint for it, we do not have workers who would want to do this for the little money they would get. Nobody could pay them properly because they don’t even have the money themselves.”

Harry swallowed hard. He had never known that before. He had so many questions and now was the time to ask them:

“But why does nobody have the money for that? Like, doctors, teachers, professors, lawyers… Aren’t they rich enough to pay the workers?”

The others laughed.

“Nice try, mate!”, Louis mumbled. “No, they do not have the means either. We live in a state where we are seen as equals. That sounds nice, communism is great and stuff.”, he was whispering now “but let me tell you this, Harry: it does not work!”

Harry was confused. Being equal was great, wasn’t it?

“See, a doctor, for example, got way more responsibility than a factory worker. In our opinion, this needs to be appreciated more and therefore a doctor deserves more loan than a factory worker. This is how an economy works but this is not how our state works. Our state loves workers, the proletariat.”

Uwe added to Louis’ words:

“He’s right. This might sound unfair or rude as both are hard-working people but one saves lives the other one sorts pencils into their packages. Also, we have a planned economic system which can not develop itself freely guided by supply and demand. This system was born to die. It’s a nice idea originally but it does not work in real life.”

Harry listened well, trying to understand everything:

“You know quite a lot about this. Are you interested in this topic? Do you study economics or so? My sister does.”

Uwe suddenly looked like he had bitten in a lemon:

“Well, I would have studied this if the state would have let me.”

The others were holding their breath as if they thought Uwe would explode if they made only the slightest noise.

“How come? Why would they?”, Harry was outraged. Why would a country dictate what you can study and what not?

“It’s because I applied for an exit request. I guess you know quite well that one cannot just walk over the border as they want but you can apply for such a permit. Very few get the allowance but I thought: Why not try it at least? So I did but that was my mistake. I was not allowed to go, instead, they recognised that everyone wanting to leave the GDR might be against the ‘oh so perfect system’. And everyone who is against the system needs to be punished. They can’t do what they want to do. I want to study economics – I can’t.”

“But that is cruel! I could never live in such a state.”

Louis shook his head: “There is a reason we are surrounded by a wall.”

“Stop it!”, Angela hissed, suddenly they were all looking at her.

“Why? He only explained it to me.”, Harry asked intimidated, his cousin looked angry.

“Only explained? For what he said he could get into jail. There could be Stasi everywhere, all around us so you better watch your mouths.”

Harry bit his lip nervously. He still did not get it. What was the Stasi really? Why were they all so afraid of it?

He would have asked but he was too afraid it could get him to jail too.

Before silence could settle again and make the situation even more uncomfortable and awkward than it already was, Angela raised her voice again:

“Anyway, let’s just forget about it. Different topic: my birthday party next week!”

Oh right, Harry’s mum had told him about it. He just listened and petted Ivan who had fallen asleep.

“I just can’t wait to give you the present we planned for you!”, Jutta squealed with glee but Jens stopped her.

“I swear if you tell her anything about it before her birthday I will kill you!”

The others laughed, Harry just joined them even though he had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

“I won’t! You should have at least a little bit of trust in me.”, Jutta defended herself. She picked some daisies and started to braid them together.

Louis leaned over towards Harry and whispered in his ear:

“We are planning to go to a concert with her, already bought the tickets and stuff. We also wanna do a picnic before that, just so you know. You’ll come too, won’t ya?”

Harry blushed a little, they cared about his presence on this day. They really wanted to share this with him. He was so happy.

“Eh, yeah sure, I guess. I mean, if I am invited.”, he whispered back. Actually, there was no reason to do so but as Louis had started whispering he just continued it.

“Of course you are, mate.”, Harry could feel Louis’ breath on his cheeks. “You are now part of the group. We won’t leave ya behind, we’d be shit friends if we did.”

Harry giggled. “Thanks!”, was all he said.

“Are you quite finished?”, Jens asked and raised his eyebrows questioning.

At this moment as Harry and Lois looked up again they got blinded by the lightning of Harry’s camera. He had not noticed that Jutta had stolen it from him while he hadn’t been looking.

“What are you doing there?”, Louis asked and laughed.

Jutta shrugged: “You looked like a couple, that was funny and somehow cute so I took a picture.”

She was waving the Polaroid around again like she did with the last one.

Louis shook his head: “I saw that; it was very nice not to warn us.”

He did not say anything about the couple reference and Harry was glad, he did not know what to think about this comment.

“I was asking about the flower thing you made. Looks nice.”, Louis added.

Now everyone was staring at the braided daisies in Jutta’s lap.

“Oh these, I made flower crowns. I had learned it from my sister when we were kids. The first one is for Harry as he is new and deserves a welcome gift!”

She leaned over to place the flower crown on his head, Harry liked flowers and did not complain.

“And the other one?”, Louis asked.

“For the one who asks, here.”, she gave Louis the other one and he crowned himself with a big smile on his face.

“Aww, thank you. I like daisies. How do I look?”

And lightning again.

“You’ll see in the next picture, just wait a second.”

Harry wanted to say something, this was his camera and films were expensive, but Jutta looked so excited and happy with the camera in her hand that he did not want to stop her.

“Can we at least see the first picture, please?”, he asked instead.

“Sure.”, Jutta gave it around so everybody could have a look at it. Uwe laughed, Jens just passed it on to Angela and she only shrugged but Harry saw that his cousin was actually trying to hide a smile in the corner of her mouth.

As Harry held the Polaroid in his hands, Louis leaned over to also have a look.

 

“Well, at least we look good in it, seen that it was spontaneous.”, he laughed.

“No, you are looking good.”

Did Harry just say that?

“I mean, look at my face in that. I look like I just woke up.”, he tried to fix his previous sentence.

“I think your face looks beautiful. Also your clothes, are all west clothes like this?”

Harry had not expected this question but he liked how the conversation took its turn.

“No, not all. I made these myself.”, he mumbled.

“So you’re saying that you sew in your free time?”, Jens asked raising one eyebrow skeptically.

Harry did not know what to say. Well, yes, of course, he sewed at home. Clothes don’t create themselves. What was Jens implying?

“Cause ya know, that’s a girls thing, isn’t it?”

Angela snorted:

“A girls thing, you say? Because women belong to the house, the kitchen and the sewing machine or what?”

Jens ducked:

“Sorry, but that’s just how it is. How it always has been.”

“You’re not really sorry. Looks like you slept during 1968.”, with that Angela lit her next cigarette, Harry had lost count by now.

Louis smiled:

“Should not everyone be allowed to do whatever they want? I like your clothes, you’re really good at this.”

Harry felt the redness in his cheeks again, not many had complimented him for his work.

“Thank you, I hope I am good at it. My sister and I have always been very interested in fashion and stuff, you know.”

“Aww, you have a sister? I did not know this!”, Jutta said, “Could you bring us West clothes when you visit us again?”

Her eyes lightened up with glee and excitement.

“Oh, yes please!”, Louis begged too.

“I guess I could do that, why not.”

„By the way, do you have time on Friday?", Louis asked and played with his flower crown.

He looked like a happy, proud child with it, Harry thought.

"Think so." Harry would have to ask his parents first. He only had tennis classes in his free time but tennis was on Tuesdays and therefore he should be free.

"Great! Then you should come over if that's possible! We are going to a party on Friday and it would be so cool if you could come too!"

Louis smiled and then laid back on the green grass in the park, daisies surrounding him.

"I would love to come, but I need to ask my parents first of course. I have to write my last exam this week so I need to study but I should be free on Friday.", Harry replied and also laid back.

The meadow was soft and Harry could sense the smell of freshly mown grass from somewhere. It was like paradise.

There was not a single cloud on the bright blue sky which Harry could see through the branches of the big old trees of the park.

The birds were chirping and singing above him, the friends were talking about the upcoming party, school and things Harry could not understand because his mind started to wander off as he closed his eyes.

He was tired but not exhausted. The kind of tired when you just want to sleep because everything is so peaceful and calming.

Mother Nature was about to sing her lullaby to Harry but Uwe interrupted his little nap:

"Harry, do you also want some ice cream?"

Suddenly he was awake again. Ice cream? Hell yeah.

So they all got up, collected their beer bottles and walked through the park for a while until they reached a little kiosk.

As they ordered their ice cream the ice man acknowledged Harry’s and Louis’ flower crowns with a snort in their direction and Harry couldn’t have cared less. He was happy and nobody would be able to change that today.

The ice cream was really good, Harry had to admit.

“Better than the coke?”, Jens grinned and enjoyed his vanilla ice cream.

“Better than the coke.”, Harry laughed. In his hand he held his yogurt soft ice cream, the others had chocolate or strawberry flavour, these were the only ones available but it was enough, Harry thought.

They ate their ice cream quietly, sitting in chairs in front of the kiosk and letting their faces get a little tan from the warm June sun.

Funny how things changed so quickly; this morning Harry had been annoyed and not very excited for this visit. And now?

Now he was feeling so good, surrounded by his new friends.

He still couldn’t believe it: his friends. The wall-breakers.

“Gotta go now”, Louis brought Harry back from his daydreaming as he stood up and looked at his watch. “Ya know me granny, 7 o’clock I need to be home.”

“Wait for me, I’ll get you home. Need to go now anyway.”, Jens immediately stood up and finished his ice cream.

They cleaned their fingers that were sticky from the ice cream and hugged everyone in the round. Jens and Harry hesitated a little because they did not know whether to hug or not.

Harry hated these situations, in the end, they did hug but it was unnecessarily awkward.

After some minutes Harry, Jutta, Uwe, and Angela had also finished and went home again. It was already half past seven when they arrived in Mühlen Street 72.

Dramatic goodbyes filled with tears of joy followed as the families had to part again. But Harry wasn’t sad. He would be here again soon enough.

In the car, his mum only talked about her sister and her husband, how nice it had been, how much they had talked and that she could not wait for her next visit.

She also asked Harry briefly about his day, he was not mad because of that. He was tired anyway and would tell her tomorrow when she had more time to listen. And then he would also ask whether he could go to the party.

This week is going to be great, Harry told himself.

It had already started well.

Today had been the best day ever.

= 0 =


End file.
